To Julia's relief, the nest was completely empty. She got to her feet and sniffed the air cautiously, making sure that neither Brute nor anything else was hiding in the darkness, waiting to jump upon her. She could smell lingering scents from him, as well as the sex that had been forced upon her, but nothing strong enough to indicate that he was still around. And the lack of new scents suggested nothing else was hiding somewhere.
Relief surging through her tiny mouse body, Julia scurried out of the nest as fast as her little legs could carry her. From there, she blindly ran through the tunnels in the walls of the Palace, utilizing her sense of smell to avoid Brute or any other mice or worse. Eventually, she ran out of tunnel and had to double back. She exited the wall. To her surprise, she was in the Prince's Harem Quarters. To her even greater surprise, the harem was not empty. Almost all of her concubines were still there, fast asleep upon the various couches, beds, and cushions that littered the expansive rooms.
Julia paused for a second to think. Her body moved of its own, cleaning itself. The actions were rather...soothing. As Julia washed her whiskers, she tried to come up with a plan. She needed to find the amulet if she wanted any hope of leaving this mouse life. That meant tracking down the rebel who took it. Her best chance at finding him would be to stay in the Palace. Even if he didn't wind up being employed by the new ruler, he would almost certainly visit to win some sort of honor for his role in the coup. Julia knew how these things went. Her kingdom had taken over some smaller ones in her lifetime.
Okay, she was going to stay in the Palace. Now, Julia had to figure out what she would do to avoid being captured by Brute again, or worse, a cat. Her eyes widened. She had known people to capture mice and keep them as pets. Surely she, with her lovely red fur, would be desirable as a pet! The only question now was to whom Julia would present herself so that she could be their pet.